Blackberry boss says tablet computers will be dead in five years

The tablet computer industry – and in turn the iPad – will be dead within five years, the boss of Blackberry has claimed.

“In five years I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore,” chief executive Thorsten Heins said, as reported by The Telegraph. “Maybe a big screen in your workspace, but not a tablet as such. Tablets themselves are not a good business model.”

Apple sold 19.5m iPads in the quarter ending March 31st 2013. That’s up from 11.8m in the same period in 2012. Just sayin’.

The comments come after what can only be described a torrid start to the year for Blackberry.

In January the company’s European MD Stephen Bates humiliated himself on national radio by not only refusing to answer questions about the iPhone but also failing to describe any significant details about the company’s own announcement – the launch of Blackberry 10.

Indeed, Blackberry sold 1m Z10’s in the quarter ending March 2nd. Apple sold 37.4m iPhones in the quarter ending March 31st.

None of which has stopped Heins from setting his sights quite astonishingly high.

“In five years, I see BlackBerry to be the absolute leader in mobile computing – that’s what we’re aiming for,” he added. “I want to gain as much market share as I can, but not by being a copycat.” Because who on earth would want to copy Apple’s sales, right?

Heins has also stated that he expects sales of the company’s upcoming Q10 smartphone to reach several tens of million of units”. Blackberry’s share price has climbed 32 per cent so far in 2013.

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